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Saturday, July 17, 2010

I made margarita cupcakes a few months ago and they were very popular but two things about the recipe left me a little bothered. One I don't usually bake from a cake mix, so while the cupcakes are good, I felt like I was cheating. The second problem is that if I'm going to order a margarita, its going to be strawberry or maybe mango. I like my margaritas a little fruity. So I searched for a strawberry margarita recipe and came up with a few choices. I decided on this one from The Picky Apple although I did make several changes. Namely I used a non-alcoholic margarita mix instead of limeade. Don't skip the glaze on the cupcakes, while its a little messy to put on, it really adds an extra kick of flavor and helps keep the cake nice and moist.

If you want to make these cupcakes completely non-alcoholic, replace the tequila in the cake with half lime juice and half margarita mix. For the glaze, use margarita mix in place of the tequila.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add margarita mix, lime juice, lime zest, strawberry preserves and tequila and mix on low speed to incorporate. (Mix may appear slightly curdled at this point but don't worry, it will come back together with the flour.) Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 the milk, and repeat mixing after each addition until just incorporated, ending with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners and bake approximately 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool approximately 10 minutes and remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Add powdered sugar to a small bowl, whisk in margarita mix and tequila to make a thick liquid glaze. Add a few drops of red food coloring to desired color. Poke 4-5 holes in each cooled cupcake with a wooden skewer. Spoon glaze over cupcakes, about a tablespoon at a time, giving the glaze a chance to absorb before adding more. You don't want to saturate the cupcakes so you may have some extra glaze left over.

Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add margarita mix and strawberry preserves and beat until well incorporated. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until frosting is desired consistency. Add a few drops red food coloring to tint frosting to desired color. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes as desired. Top with sliced strawberries for garnish if desired.

I just went to the store and got everything to make these, but didn't realize there were three components; I thought the glaze was the frosting so I didn't scroll down for the third set of ingredients and didn't get cream cheese.

That's the only ingredient I'm missing...is there another way to get the ideal frosting for these cupcakes, without creamcheese? I'm making them here in a few minutes for my soon to be sister-in-law to celebrate her 21st birthday ;) Any quick advice would be awesome! Thanks so much :)

@Krystal - hope you get this in time... You could do a classic buttercream recipe as well - just use all butter in place of the cream cheese - they won't have the same tang to the frosting but it will do since you're in a pinch.

Hi there. Love the idea of this recipe! I absolutely hate margarita mixes though, as they have sulfites and other things in them that I don't like to touch. Do you think you could just substitute more lime juice and maybe some simple syrup, and maybe a little triple sec in place of the mix?

@Tipsy Tisch - I would just substitute whatever you would use to make a real margarita for the mix minus the tequila. So if lime juice, simple syrup and triple sec is what you do that should work just fine.

before I found your site, I saw another nearly same directions for cake for a margarita cupcake. We are going to a mexican themed dinner tonight. I too love strawberry or fruity flavored drinks not so much on the tequila loving side. I don't have strawberry preserves. So what do you think if I have strawberries at home puree them add some sugar and then make the icing as you did. Would it still taste sweet and like a strawberry margarita, or should I just follow the near same recipe for just a plain margarita... I don't want to do the glaze as I baked my cupcakes last night and they have been in the fridge

I saw that you used lime margarita, I'm a strawberry kinda girl myself. Do you think using strawberry magarita mix would add a little more flavor? Me and my friends are having a girls night in "Tequila & Tacos" and I want to surprise them with these cupcakes!

@TPayne - I would think the strawberry mix may be a little sweet, the lime mix is generally a lot more tart. You could probably use the strawberry and reduce the preserves a bit if it's one of those puree type mixes. If it's like the Jose Cuervo mix or something that is just liquid, I would just sub the strawberry for lime. It will probably make the cake sweeter though.

Jen! The cupcakes were DELISH! I must try them again! I only did a teaspoon of the glaze for fear of messing them up. I'm not the most avid baker and before the glaze, everything was going GREAT so I didn't want to jinx myself and over saturate. My girlfriends LOVED them! Will do again for Cinco de Mayo girls night in! Thanks again for sharing!

I love these! I baked these for a Cinco de Mayo party and they went over well. I modified the recipe a bit and shared it on my blog (with credit back to you, of course!) Thanks for sharing! http://notesonawire.wordpress.com/